Luka by K.E. Ganshert

Author:K.E. Ganshert [Ganshert, K.E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: K.E. Ganshert Books

19

No Competition

The ocean whispers rhythmically as I stand on my back deck, hoping Tess might join me on hers. The wind is calm. The waves, gentle. Terrible surfing weather but great for talking. I’d really like to talk. We didn’t get another moment alone after lunch. No class time to work on our year-long project. After school, I spotted Tess with Leela, who no longer looked hurt, but excited. Giddy, even. Which makes me think Tess went through with the plan. She told Leela we’re dating.

Across the yard, a door slides open.

Tess steps outside, then slams it shut. She marches to the end of her deck, sets a can of soda on top of the railing, and stares hard at the horizon as a soft breeze flutters hair that refuses to stay tucked behind her ear. She doesn’t notice me at all. She doesn’t notice me much in general—a fact that brings a chagrinned smile to my face.

She props her elbows on either side of her soda and rubs her temples.

“How’d it go with Leela?” I call over.

Her arms jerk from the banister. She sets her hand over her clavicle, her chest rising and falling with a breath. “Have you been out here this whole time?”

“Maybe.” I cross my arms and lean casually against the railing, my thoughts a direct contradiction to the laidback posture. I’m itching to ask her more about her grandmother, the kidnapping, this doctor from her dreams. It’s an itch I refuse to scratch. After the intensity of lunch, I’m determined to keep this conversation as light as possible. “Did Leela believe you?”

“I think so.” Her shoulder lifts in an uncertain shrug. “I promised her I’d go to that Halloween party tomorrow.”

“Bobbi’s?”

“Yeah.”

I raise my eyebrows. Tess is going to Bobbi’s Halloween party, one I had no interest in attending this past weekend or this morning. But that was when my mother and Summer and Jared were talking about it. Now? I scratch my forehead. “Care if I tag along?”

“You want to go?”

“That’s what couples do, right? Go to parties together.”

She groans. Loudly.

It’s not the reaction I was hoping for. “What?”

“I’m not a big fan of costume parties. I never know what to wear.”

Her concern is so benign, the tension in my body lets go. “You could go as a crazy person. I’m sure Dr. Roth has a straitjacket you could borrow.”

Tess laughs.

It’s such a gratifying sound, I find that I want to spend the rest of my life making her do it again. The impassioned thought sets off alarms in my head. Yes, Tess and I share an unexplainable connection. Yes, we see and feel things nobody else can see and feel. Somehow, we can even communicate in our dreams. But Tess hasn’t spent the majority of her life dreaming about me. Consumed with me. Searching for me. If I’m aiming for light, I’ve got to dial my thoughts down a notch.

“Or I could just go as Tess Eckhart,” she says.

“Lame,” I reply playfully.

“What are you going as?”

“Dr.

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